News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-10-06
TERMS $3.50.
HANGED AND STILL ALIVE.
10 Wonder the Poor Fellows Neck
is StiT and His Head Queer.

ItFom the Worcester Te'cgraml
4 coIored man was taken i'll on ths
| Common and wonld have fallen but fo,
the timely assistance of two bvstanders
The man had been wandering about the
Common since morning, and had beer
motto I'd on account of the peculiar way
i'll which he carried his head. It hunS
toward his right shoulder. and he seemed
to take no pains to pull it into the posi-
ton IN which people commonly carry
their heads. He was respectfully dresset
III clothes that had evidently not beer
made for him, and his boots looked o.
if he had walked considerable distance
When he had been assisted to a seat h,
tainted. and when he regnined conscious
ness he clutched at his throat, tore away
his collar, and said appealingly: "No
u Ny God Not again :" His EN-
igiTTassment when he looked about hin
Was marked. One of the gentlemen who
had assisted him to n seat left when the
colored man had recovered, but tho
other remained and questioned him as
soon rs he had regainel his composure
1t was sitting in the Common after he
had dined that he said: 81 have ha
trouble with my neck and been subject
to fainting spells since | was hanged in
Arkansas"
The expression was startling enough
to make any one think the man was
crazy; but he was circumstantial as to
details of time and place, and it is n
well-known fact that a negro was legally
hanged three years ago in Arkansas foi
assault on Il white woman, and afterward
recovered consciousness. AS published
then, the negro was suspended for
twenty minutes after the drop of the
old-fsshioned gallows fell, and the body
was given by the Sheriff to the father of
the young man, who, with some friends,
was waiting near by with a wagon 1t
was the intention to take him to the set
tlement where he formerly lived and
bury him there. This settlement was
fourteen miles from the county seat, at
which the hanging took place, and was
through lonely piece of country.
Whom the wagon was nearly at home
the father of the supposed corpse and
his friends were startled by groans from
under the tarDaulin thrown over the
supposed dead man, and his struggles
to get from under it. As soon rs they
had recov red from their fright they
went back to the wagon from which
they had fled and helped the legally
dead man up, gave him drink from
the Omnipresent jug of whisky and took
him home. Instead of leaving the set
tlement at once the hanged man stayed
around his old home, and the supersti-
tious colored people demanded his re-
arrest and the completion of the hang
ing. The case was taken to the Gov
ernor, and pending discussion rs to the
right of the authorities to take cOgni
zance of the existence of a convict who
had been pronounced legally dead, the
man fed and has been n wanderer ever
since. 1t was only after repeated urg
ing, sweetened with promise of help to
leave the city in comfort, that he told
his story in the dialect of Southern
lence in the North. Divestel of its
quaint dinlect, his tale is weirdly inter.
esting.
'T was locked mp" he said, ''mopt
than SIX months, but 1 never Thought
was going to be hanged until the night
before. Then | knew the gallOws was
up and [ got scared Thev prayed with
me ali the time and tried to keep me
from thinking of it, but I didn't hear
what thev PRAYED about. / was too eX-
cited [ didn't go to sleep all the night
before, and when they came to fetch me-
I was 50 weak 1 couldn't sand up. The
Sheriff gave me drink of whisky, and
then they tied my elbows behind my
back and took me along. [ know there
was crowds around when [ went to the
gallows, but / didn't seem to see 'em. l
heard somebody singing and L joined in.
Then they pushed me up on the gal.ows,
and I saw the rope and got scared
again and tried to hang back, bat they
pushed me along and made me stand
up straight. / recollect their putting
the moose on my neck and drawing it
up tight, but | was think ng of whether
they was going to hurt me, and all at
once l dropped. I had shut my eyes
when they pulled a piece of cloth over
nv face, but L opened them then and
tried to get my hands up to tear the
cloth OFF 50 [ could see; but all at once
[ thought some one hit me a terrible
blow on the head, and L lost my senses.
When | woke up [ thought some one
was choking me, and tried to get loose,
but couldn't Then 1t seemed as ii
my head was bursting, and I saw awful
lights before my eyes, and my feet and
hands seemed to be SO heavy L couldn't
stir them. Then great rings OF all sorts
of bright colors began at my eyes and
went further off. growing bigger and
fainter until l lost them. My head felt
priekly all over, and so did my hands
and feet, and | couldn't breathe, and
then tainted. Once | knew | was be
ing hanged, but it was only for secoud.
"When [ woke up in the wagon [ was
WORSE scared than before, and when L
got from under the tarpaulin L thought
[ had been dreaming. Then when my
neck got to burning me so, [ knew what
was the matter. For weeks afterward [
could hardly swallow, and [ couldn't
turn my hea |, and l can't now very
much. The cords are all stiff on one
side and drawn down. | can never go
home again, and | can never see
on hear Of my folks again. They were
going to catch me and do it all over
again, so ran away. I've been knock
ing around ever since, principally in
Canada, New Jersey, New York and
PENNSYLVANIA, bit now | thought I'd
come up here where / might get some
light work I could do. Sometimes /
have wished that had never come to
life again. That's been when I've been
nearly frozen and starved. l never &c
near colored people, for it was my own
color that tried to have me hanged over,
and hate black face"